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Foods to improve your skin health
Remember that old saying “You are what you eat,” which is the basis of good skin color and overall health. Our choice of food and beverages affects all major body systems including the heart, brain and skin.
Going to the supermarket or a farmers market offers plenty of healthy foods that can boost your appearance, as well as offer some protection from the rays of the sun. Remember, your skin health is dependent on how well you nourish it through dietary choices. Our stressful environment makes it super important to feed our skin the most healthful foods on a daily basis for a glowing complexion.
Try these tips:
• Eat five-to-six cups daily of bright-colored veggies such as carrots, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and leafy dark greens. The carotenoids found in these veggies and others have a beneficial impact on reducing skin discoloration that impacts your appearance. Carotenoids are found in fruit and veggies and are potent antioxidants which protect our skin from the sun’s UV rays and helps to protect the skin from sunburn.
• Stop eating the typical American diet that is high in processed food, including fried foods, sugar and salt. Instead, eat lots of veggies, fruit, whole grains, one-percent or fat-free dairy, poultry and fish and drink plenty of water. Make sure you consume plenty of colorful vegetables that contain phytochemicals, which will keep your skin glowing and healthy.
• Add one-to-two ounces of almonds to your diet daily. Researchers at the University of California, Davis have found skin improves the severity of wrinkles, which lessen due to the beneficial fats found in almonds along with other anti-aging antioxidants.
• Follow the Mediterranean diet that emphasizes fruit, vegetables, whole grains, poultry and fish at least two times per week, and limits red meat, sweets and high-fat foods to be “once in a blue moon” foods. Add water or a glass of red wine for adults at the dinner meal. Olive oil is a mainstay of the diet, along with plenty of tomatoes that are high in lycopene that helps to prevent skin cancer due to this high-antioxidant compound.
• Dark red grapes contain flavonoids that help to prevent premature aging of the skin by providing protection against the UV ray-activated reactive oxygen species (ROS) from forming and causing skin cell death. Red grapes are a great snack and provide natural protection against sunburn, according to a recent study in Spain.
• Eating fish weekly has cardiovascular benefits due to Omega-3 fats, but now has been shown to prevent photoaging due to astaxanthin, an antioxidant compound found in pink fish such as salmon and Arctic char. It accumulates in a person’s skin and it protects against the UV exposure, along with water loss from a person’s skin which contributes to wrinkles.
Take these small steps to improve your skin health so it glows and your overall body health improves inside and out. (Monthly health message by Karen Ensle, EdD, RDN, FAND, CFCS from Rutgers Cooperative Extension of Union County.)
Visit www.extension.purdue.edu/putnam or contact the local Extension office at 653-8411 for more information regarding this week’s column topic or to RSVP for upcoming events. Office hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m.-noon and 1-4 p.m. Evening and lunch appointments are available upon request.
Upcoming Events
Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 – Fall walking group, 9 a.m., Big Walnut Sports Park, register at 765-301-7641
Oct. 19 – Medicare and Diabetes, Putnam County Fairgrounds, 2 p.m., register at 653-8411.
Oct. 19 – Pork: The No-Hogwash Protein webinar, noon, register at https://tinyurl.com/WIAWebinars21.
Oct. 25 – ServSafe one-day class and online exam, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., register at https://purdue.edu/servsafe/workshops.
Oct. 27, Nov. 3, 10, 17 – Grass-to-garden program, virtual, 6–9 p.m., $50, register at 653-8411.